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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29266278">the warmth of blood</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/amybri2002/pseuds/amybri2002'>amybri2002</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>febuwhump 2021 [7]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Sanders Sides (Web Series)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>(just takes a lot time to get there), Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Gen, Self Harm, blood mention, hurt/comfort but focusing heavily on the hurt, injury mention, this one is angsty bois i’m sorry, touch starvation</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 13:41:57</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,867</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29266278</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/amybri2002/pseuds/amybri2002</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>After coming back from a quest injured, Logan helps to fix Roman up, and Roman discovers a pleasant side effect that comes with it.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Anxiety | Virgil Sanders &amp; Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders &amp; Logic | Logan Sanders, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders &amp; Morality | Patton Sanders</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>febuwhump 2021 [7]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2138040</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>76</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>the warmth of blood</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>day seven!!! today’s prompt was ‘poisoning’. does this fic relate to that? technically. did i just want an excuse to write touch starved roman and hurt him more than what is necessary? yes absolutely. <br/>i am so sorry for this. i promise that this is a mostly happy ending. please do pay attention to the tags on this. <br/>but anyway, hope u guys enjoy :)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Roman stumbled back into the mindscape and collapsed onto the sofa, clutching his side. Alright, so maybe that hadn’t quite gone as planned, as much as he hated to admit it. Getting stabbed in the side was never particularly fun - God, this was going to be a pain to heal up, cuts on his arms and stuff was easy enough to get to but his </span>
  <em>
    <span>side</span>
  </em>
  <span>? It hurt to even move, let alone clean up the wounds and bandage it all. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He really should get up to his room, but… still, it hurt to even move in his spot, he’d almost passed out on his way over here. It was fine, just a scratch, really. Just needed a few moments. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Roman?” a voice called from across the room, followed by a slightly more distressed, “Roman!” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Roman forced himself to lift his head, squinting, just about seeing Logan behind the black spots dancing in his vision. “O-Oh. Hey, Logan. Don’t- Don’t worry ‘bout me, just need a moment-“ </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Roman, you’re </span>
  <em>
    <span>bleeding</span>
  </em>
  <span>,” Logan said, moving closer to him. “Christ, what happened?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Roman shook his head, trying to get Logan to go away, wave him off. “Really, Logan, I’m fine. Just, uh… had a not-so-great encounter in the Imagination. I’ll be okay in a couple days, I heal quick, just gotta… get to my room…” He tried to move, though that only resulted in him cringing in pain, and Logan… holding him down. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Holding him. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He- </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>For a moment, Roman forgot how to breathe. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was so </span>
  <em>
    <span>warm</span>
  </em>
  <span>. So gentle, so soothing, so… nice. It almost burned, but… in a good way, in a way that made Roman’s heart flutter, immediately calmed him… almost brought him to tears. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Logan almost immediately pulled back, a look of concern flashing across his face. “Sorry, I- Did that hurt?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Roman shook his head. “No, no, I-“ All he could think about now was how </span>
  <em>
    <span>cold </span>
  </em>
  <span>it felt, without Logan’s skin touching his, almost forgetting entirely about the pain in his side. And now Logan was </span>
  <em>
    <span>standing up, </span>
  </em>
  <span>leaving him alone, he- </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Don’t worry,” Logan said, “I’ll be back in a moment, just… going to grab a first aid kit, stay there.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He left the room, and at that point Roman allowed himself to cry, allowed a few tears to fall down his cheek. He wasn’t sure </span>
  <em>
    <span>why </span>
  </em>
  <span>- perhaps it was just due to the pain, that would make sense, but… God, Logan had barely touched him, all he’d done is hold his arm for a moment, what… why did that affect Roman so much? He wiped furiously at the tears, trying to calm himself down, ready for when Logan got back. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Logan soon returned and began to patch Roman up, clean up the blood around his wound and rub on some disinfectant, carefully stitch it up, wrap and bandage tight around it. Roman zoned out, focusing entirely on the feeling of Logan’s fingers dancing over his skin, gentle, careful, </span>
  <em>
    <span>warm</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p>
<p>And then… And then an arm, wrapped around his shoulder. Roman tried his hardest to keep himself from just bursting into tears - the few that did escape his eyes in Logan’s presence could hopefully just be chalked up to his wound, as far as Logan knew. </p>
<p>
  <span>God, he was </span>
  <em>
    <span>pathetic. </span>
  </em>
  <span>Crying because of a </span>
  <em>
    <span>fucking hug. </span>
  </em>
  <span>He shouldn’t be like this, he… </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was </span>
  <em>
    <span>so good</span>
  </em>
  <span>, though. So warm. Roman melted against Logan, leaning closer to him, trying to get as much contact as possible. And Logan… didn’t leave, not until he was sure that Roman would be okay, that his wound was healing. </span>
</p>
<p>When Logan finally did leave, all Roman could think about was that awful cold, overpowering any remaining pain. </p>
<p>
  <span>~*~ </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Roman </span>
  <em>
    <span>knew </span>
  </em>
  <span>this was a bad idea. Every part of his mind screamed at him that this was a terrible, terrible idea, that he’d only get himself hurt, possibly in more pain than ever before. The others would think he was crazy, Patton or Logan would probably bar him from going into the Imagination for a while if they thought he couldn’t handle himself, it would probably freak Virgil out as well, but… </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Well, Roman could deal with the pain, he always had done before. What he couldn’t deal with was that awful cold. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Over the past few weeks, he’d found that, time and time again, whenever he got hurt and one of the others found out, they would </span>
  <em>
    <span>touch </span>
  </em>
  <span>him, comfort him, cuddle him, if he was lucky. Though… he’d also found that with just little cuts the usual wounds he faced, they… never touched him as much as he wanted them to, as much as he </span>
  <em>
    <span>needed </span>
  </em>
  <span>them to. He… needed more, he was craving touch, and every time someone pulled away the cold only got worse. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>So, yeah, maybe he </span>
  <em>
    <span>was </span>
  </em>
  <span>a little crazy, going up against some of his worst enemies, already injured as he went to face the next one, barely even fighting back, by the end not fighting back at all. But based on his hypothesis (Logan would be proud of him, using sciency words like that), the worse his wounds, the longer the touch would last for, right? Maybe he’d even get to fall asleep on someone, the warmth always made him feel so drowsy, and he’d </span>
  <em>
    <span>love </span>
  </em>
  <span>to wake up to someone holding him, love to… feel safe like that. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He took in a deep breath, his mind made up, and stepped into the Imagination… </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>...a few hours later, he stepped back out, looking like he’d been dragged through a hedge backwards, run over by ten cars all at once, spent a week in some horror movie. He was drenched from head to toe in blood, barely able to stand, almost certain that he would black out at any moment. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He fell into the arms of a very concerned, slightly afraid Patton, and dragged over to the sofa, where the others began to fuss over him, clean him up, wrap up his wounds, always with an arm wrapped around him. Voices faded into the background, white noise - it hurt, all over, and… Roman couldn’t even focus on the warmth anymore, it hurt </span>
  <em>
    <span>too much</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Everything was a blur, he felt like he was about to </span>
  <em>
    <span>die</span>
  </em>
  <span>, and… and it wasn’t even worth it, he couldn’t savour the warmth. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But at least afterwards, once three quarters of his body was covered up with bandages, after he’d taken some meds and the pain had nulled to a dull ache, the others still didn’t leave, holding him close on the sofa, some Disney movie playing in the background. Finally, Roman allowed himself to bask in Patton’s warmth, melting into his body, the soothing motion of Virgil running his fingers through his hair, Logan’s hand intertwined with his own, rubbing his thumb over the top of his hand. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He could get used to this warmth, this comfort, this… feeling of being cared for, appreciated, seen. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Too bad it couldn’t always last. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>~*~ </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As expected, Roman had been barred from the Imagination. Which was fair enough, if he were the others he’d bar himself too, but… </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Well, of course there were upsides, the main one being that Roman wasn’t going to hurt himself more, even though at this point he’d fully recovered and honestly felt energised enough to take on millions of enemies, strong enough, but… there was also downsides, most of which consisted of the fact that </span>
  <em>
    <span>no one was touching him now</span>
  </em>
  <span>, not when he wasn’t hurt. Not when they didn’t need to, not when he was ‘fine’. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>So, the logical thing to do was to make himself not fine, right? Yeah, Logan would be </span>
  <em>
    <span>so proud </span>
  </em>
  <span>of him for managing to come up with a conclusion like that. He wondered briefly why what Logan thought mattered so much to him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Whatever. He… He had to do this, no matter how much his hands were shaking, how fast his heart was beating. Just a little cut, that was all it would take, right? But maybe… maybe not on his arm, would that be too obvious? The others would just worry, wouldn’t they? Well, they’d worry either way, but… they’d worry about more than just Roman being </span>
  <em>
    <span>physically </span>
  </em>
  <span>hurt. There wasn’t anything </span>
  <em>
    <span>mentally </span>
  </em>
  <span>wrong with him, he just… wanted a hug, and this would provide him with a hug, right? </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He closed his eyes, moving the dagger close to his skin and slicing his arm, just a little, he was pretty sure. It… stung, definitely, but it didn’t seem </span>
  <em>
    <span>as </span>
  </em>
  <span>bad as the wounds he got from the Imagination, though when he looked down he… almost felt sick. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was bigger than he’d intended, firstly. Not on his wrist, he couldn’t be </span>
  <em>
    <span>that </span>
  </em>
  <span>obvious, but it… looked pretty deep, blood seeping out of his skin, running down his arm, staining the dagger, dripping onto the floor. He began to feel a little lightheaded, which… didn’t feel right, he didn’t usually get lightheaded as the sight of blood, only if he… lost a lot… </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The more he stared at it, the faster his heart began to beat, the more afraid he became. His dagger fell to the floor, metal clanging, loud enough to be heard from outside his room. He sucked in a deep breath, standing up to move over to his bathroom, entire body shaking. He- He couldn’t let the others see this, they’d definitely worry, they… </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>What if they stopped, once they found out what Roman was doing? That thought almost made Roman’s heart stop beating entirely. Because… Because they would, surely. They’d stop helping him when they found out he was getting hurt on </span>
  <em>
    <span>purpose</span>
  </em>
  <span>, when they found out he </span>
  <em>
    <span>wanted </span>
  </em>
  <span>to get hurt. They wouldn’t feel so bad for him anymore, they might not even try to fix him up, he’d go back to doing everything himself, being so alone, so </span>
  <em>
    <span>cold</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The thought brought tears to his eyes, as he lowered his arm into the skin, trying to wash away some of the blood. More just kept coming, and Roman found himself delving deeper and deeper into panic, furiously wiping at his wound, trying to disinfect it himself with his still shaky hands, </span>
  <em>
    <span>more blood just seeping out. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Roman?” a voice said, from the door. And then, more frantically, “Roman!” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Someone ran up besides him, taking his arm, looking concerned, worried, </span>
  <em>
    <span>heartbroken</span>
  </em>
  <span>. It was Virgil. All Roman wanted to do was run, but… the feeling of Virgil’s hand pressed against his arm was enough to make him stay, enough to make him forget how to breathe. Enough to make him cry even more. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Okay, okay, let’s just… let’s sit you down somewhere, okay?” Virgil said, voice soft, grabbing the first aid kit from the bathroom before he began to gently lead Roman back to his bed. “Can you take a deep breath for me, please?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Roman did as he was told, sucking in a deep breath of air and shakily exhaling. It did nothing to calm his heart rate, or stop his tears, but… still, Virgil’s gentle touch managed to lull him into a state of almost calm. Virgil began to carefully clean up the cut, properly, and wrap it up in a bandage, all whilst muttering quiet reassurances to Roman, urging him to keep breathing, to stay calm. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Christ, how did you even-“ Virgil paused, eyes landing on the bloody dagger, still on the floor. When he looked back at Roman, he had a shocked expression on his face. “Roman, you-“ </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Roman shook his head. “It’s- It’s fine,” he managed to get out, calm enough now to… mostly speak, even if his voice sounded hoarse. “Really, I’m fine. Just a… little slip up, nothing to worry about…” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Virgil stared at him, eyes wide, for a moment longer, before pulling him into a hug, holding him tight. And just like usual, Roman almost forgot how to breathe, almost immediately leaning into it. But… it didn’t feel right, he almost felt guilty - this was what he wanted, but… he didn’t deserve it, not in the way that he </span>
  <em>
    <span>got </span>
  </em>
  <span>it. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“This is something we should worry about, Roman,” Virgil said, serious. “I…” He drew back after a moment, and all Roman wanted to do was pull him right back, hold him there forever, let </span>
  <em>
    <span>Virgil </span>
  </em>
  <span>hold him forever, but… but that would be selfish, he knew. He didn’t deserve it. At least… At least Virgil was still touching him, maybe he’d stay with his hands resting on Roman’s arms a little longer. “Have you done anything like that before?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Roman’s eyes widened, and he quickly shook his head. “No, no! Of course not, I- I just… It was just one time, I promise. A mistake, really, I didn’t… mean to…” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Virgil looked… sad. Roman had made Virgil sad. God, he- he really had fucked up, this time. “We should… talk to the others about this,” he suggested, quietly. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And that was perhaps the worst thing that Virgil could have said. “No!” Roman shouted, causing Virgil to flinch back, which… only distressed Roman more. But still, he continued, “No, no, they can’t- they can’t know, please, I-“ </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Shh, shh…” Virgil held a hand up to Roman’s face, gently stroking his cheek, wiping away his tears with his thumb. “I get it, you’re… scared of what they’ll think, I know it’s hard to talk about that sort of stuff, but… we can help you, you know?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As much as Roman wanted to stay there, lean into Virgil’s hand, bask in the warmth for a while longer, for forever if he could, he pulled himself back, shaking his head more. “No, I… please, they can’t…” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Virgil was standing up. Virgil was </span>
  <em>
    <span>leaving.</span>
  </em>
  <span> Roman was cold again, and- and… </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Stay here,” Virgil instructed. “I know you don’t want to, but… I’m going to get Patton and Logan, we need to talk about this. I’m… I’m worried, Roman. Please just… let us help.” </span>
</p>
<p>Virgil was already gone before Roman had time to argue. </p>
<p>
  <span>He couldn’t do this. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>~*~ </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The next choice that Roman made was… very much not a good one, to say the least. But he </span>
  <em>
    <span>couldn’t </span>
  </em>
  <span>talk to the others about this, and so the only logical thing to do was escape.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Into the Imagination. Where he wasn’t supposed to be. Where he’d probably just get hurt more. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>At this point, he didn’t even care. He was numb to the pain. And maybe if he was hurt by some other creature, the others wouldn’t even have to know about him hurting himself, he could just… redirect it to that, they’d go back to hugging him for that, not because of </span>
  <em>
    <span>pity </span>
  </em>
  <span>or </span>
  <em>
    <span>worry </span>
  </em>
  <span>or whatever, and everything would be back to normal. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Normal. Roman was… fairly certain at this point that it wasn’t normal to purposely get hurt just to have a shot at gaining some sort of human affection, but… it was normal enough to him, by now. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He ventured further and further into the Imagination, far away from the entrance - that only meant that when he finally did want to return, the journey back would be harder, especially if he was as injured as last time, but… it also meant that the others had less of a chance of finding him before he was ready to return. He wasn’t ready to face them, not yet. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He was so </span>
  <em>
    <span>stupid </span>
  </em>
  <span>- why had he thought that that would be a good idea? He’d ruined one of his favourite daggers, for starters, and the scar that would undoubtedly form on his arm would probably take ages to fade, and… God, the others probably hated him now, or would when they inevitably found out what he was doing, when they asked why… how was he supposed to explain this? They’d… probably never touch him again, if they knew what he was doing. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lost in thought, Roman hadn’t even noticed the enemy sneaking up behind him, a massive scorpion sticking its tail right through his back, poison quickly spreading through his veins, until Roman was on the floor, dangerously close to blacking out, </span>
  <em>
    <span>unable to move. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Well. This… certainly wasn’t ideal. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>This pain was… worse than anything he’d suffered previously. God, he couldn’t even </span>
  <em>
    <span>move</span>
  </em>
  <span>, he- </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He was beginning to find it difficult to breathe. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Shit. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He- </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>What if he died out here? </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>No, he wouldn’t die, he… </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He couldn’t move. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>What if no one found him? </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>What if he was </span>
  <em>
    <span>stuck </span>
  </em>
  <span>out here? </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Roman’s eyes slowly began to close, poison taking effect, heart rate slowing down, until he fully passed out. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>~*~ </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Hands. All over him. That burning warmth, even hotter than the burning in his heart, through his veins. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Voices. Gentle voices, soothing, with just a hint of panic, of concern, but… still soft, so soft underneath. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Roman blearily opened his eyes, looking up at the others surrounding him. He tried to lift his head, though still found himself unable to move, not properly. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh, you’re awake,” Logan said. “Stay still, Roman. The poison… hasn’t quite left your body.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Roman blinked, glancing around at the others. They all looked concerned, confused, but… underneath everything, relieved, that Roman was… at the very least, awake. “What- What are you- How did you guys-“ </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Remus saw you,” Logan quickly explained. “We’re in his part of the Imagination, he saw you come in here and… got concerned, I imagine.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Roman frowned. “But…” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Shh,” another voice said - Patton’s. Patton ran his fingers through Roman’s hair, soothingly, and Roman almost passed out again from the shock. “You’re okay, just focus on resting, for now.” Roman leaned into Patton’s hand, letting out a quiet moan of satisfaction, that… caused the others to frown. Roman tensed. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Roman, are you… okay?” Logan asked, leaning closer to him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>For a moment, Roman wasn’t sure how to respond. He almost said yes, but… he knew now that that was a lie. “I mean… I’ve been poisoned, honestly it’s painful, I-“ </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Not that,” Logan said. “I mean… y’know… emotions and all…” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Roman froze. “I- Y-Yeah, of course, I’m…” Patton stopped stroking through his hair, pulling his hand away as he shared a concerned glance with the others, and that was almost enough to make Roman cry again. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Not quite enough. He could… hold himself together, just a little longer. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m okay, don’t worry about me.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Roman,” Virgil said, “I… told them about what happened.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Again, Roman froze, heart rate increasing in his chest. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Shit. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Do you want to talk about it?” Patton asked, carefully, voice very, very soft. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I… have actually noticed that you’ve been getting hurt a lot more often,” Logan said in the background. “I’m sorry that we… didn’t pick up on it sooner, but… we’re here to help you, okay? We don’t want you hurting yourself.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Roman managed to shake his head, lifting it up a little before collapsing back to the ground. “No, no, really, I- I promise that was just a one time thing, it was a mistake, I wasn’t… thinking properly and I </span>
  <em>
    <span>won’t </span>
  </em>
  <span>do it again, I just…” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Logan frowned. “What about all the other times, then? Recently, you’ve been coming up to us with a different injury at least three times a week, you-“ </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Those are just from fighting, I promise. I… I don’t know, I haven’t been myself lately, I-“ </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Roman,” Patton said, placing a hand on his arm. Roman’s breath faltered, and… Patton frowned more. “Roman, please, just tell us what’s going on. We won’t be mad, we just… want to help you.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Roman was silent for a moment, turning his head up to face the sky, trying his hardest not to cry. “I… You guys will be mad. Or upset, or… whatever. I can’t…” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I </span>
  <em>
    <span>promise </span>
  </em>
  <span>we won’t be mad or upset or </span>
  <em>
    <span>anything</span>
  </em>
  <span>, Roman,” Patton reassured him. “Please, we just want to know what’s going on. You’ve been… acting weird.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Roman stayed silent again for another few minutes, considering. He… knew that there’s no getting out of this, but even if he could delay it just a little longer, just to really soak up the feeling of Patton’s touch, because he also knew that the moment the others found out, he wouldn’t be getting that touch again.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Well, it was nice whilst it lasted, he supposed. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Roman sighed. “I…” He closed his eyes. “A few weeks ago, I came back from the Imagination, injured, and Logan found me and helped to patch me up. I… In that time, Logan… touched me, and I- I don’t know, it felt nice, felt </span>
  <em>
    <span>warm</span>
  </em>
  <span>, and I… I wanted to feel that again. And I kept getting hurt, and you guys kept helping me, and I could… feel that warmth again and again, and… eventually I added two and two together, figured that if I was hurt I’d get… hugs and stuff, and just… I don’t know, felt greedy I guess, so I… I kept getting hurt. And it worked.” He sighed. “And now I’ve lost that, I know, I’m sorry, I- I can go back to fixing up my own wounds, seriously, I- I’m </span>
  <em>
    <span>so </span>
  </em>
  <span>sorry.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Silence. Somehow, the silence felt worse than how Roman imagined he’d feel if they all shouted at him, which… was what he had been expecting. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When he finally opened his eyes, all he saw was concerned faces, tears rolling down Patton’s cheeks, Virgil’s eyes wide with… fear? And Logan just looking… so lost, so confused. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Guys? I… It’s okay, I get it, you’re mad, you can… all leave now, I’ll be-“ </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Before Roman could even finish, Patton had wrapped his arms around him, pulling him up and holding him closer to his chest. This time, Roman couldn’t stop tears pouring out of his eyes - this was… the closest hug he’d even received, the </span>
  <em>
    <span>warmest </span>
  </em>
  <span>hug, and it- it burned in the best way possible. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Roman, baby, why- why didn’t you </span>
  <em>
    <span>tell</span>
  </em>
  <span> us?” Patton murmured. “You… You could have just asked us for a hug, if that’s what you wanted, you didn’t have to… Did we really not hug you for so long?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Roman was </span>
  <em>
    <span>really </span>
  </em>
  <span>confused now. “I don’t… I don’t understand…” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Logan approached from behind up, clearing his throat and placing a hand on his shoulder. Roman had to stifle back a sob. “I- From what you just said, it… sounds like you were touch starved, Roman. Which isn’t ideal. And… hurting yourself is really no way to deal with that. We’re… not mad, I promise. I…” He sighed. “I believe the best way to deal with this is to give you regular physical contact. Not just because you're injured, but because… you need it, okay? You deserve it.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Roman blinked, though didn’t attempt to argue - he wasn’t about to pass up the offer of regular physical contact, no way. He just… “I still don’t…” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You don’t have to understand,” Logan said, moving closer to him to wrap an arm around his shoulder. Virgil moved in quickly afterwards, joining the group hug, Roman buried right in the middle. “You just have to… let us help you, okay?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Roman nodded, almost desperately, and… they stayed. All four of them, cuddled on the forest floor in the Imagination, so, </span>
  <em>
    <span>so </span>
  </em>
  <span>warm. He couldn’t give this up. This was… perfect. </span>
</p>
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